Balfron Tower
' Balfron Tower' is a 27 storey tower block in Poplar, a district of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in the East End of London. It forms part of the Brownfield and Rowlett Estate. It is 84 metres (276 ft) high and contains 146 homes (136 flats and 10 maisonettes). Plans for Balfron Tower were designed by Erno Goldfinger for London County Council in 1963 and were submitted for council approved under the designation 'Rowlett Street Phase I'. Construction commenced in 1965 and was completed in 1967 by Greater London Council. It was later joined by Carradale House, a shorter adjacent block which complements it. Goldfinger and his wife moved into flat 130, on the 25th floor, for two months in 1968. They threw champagne parties to find out what the residents liked and disliked about his design and he applied what he learnt to his design for the similar and more famous Trellick Tower in west London. Glenkerry House, designed by Goldfinger, was later added to the estate. All three towers display Goldfinger's signature design style, with a separate lifts and staircase core connected to the residential element by sky-bridges. There are seven walkways on Balfron Tower, with the core also housing laundry rooms and rubbish chutes. At the top of the core is a boiler room. In 1985, the original concrete boiler flutes were replaced with metal, due to concrete decay. Balfron Tower's iconic robust style led to it receiving Grade II listed building status from English Heritage in 1996, followed by Carradale House four years later. The Balfron Tower Conservation Area was designated to the estate around it in 1998, adding further conservation status. In December 2007, following a ballot of residents in 2006, Tower Hamlets Council transferred its ownership of Balfron Tower, Carradale House and the surrounding estate to Poplar HARCA, a housing association. The association is legally committed to carry out a full refurbishment of the buildings. The architectural firm PRP Architects which has taken up this project will be looking to restore these Brutalist structures to their original form as required by English Heritage, and also to bring the buildings up to modern specifications and 21st century living standards. The first phase of the refurbishment starts late summer 2011 with the lower Carradale House. The refurbishment will be technically challenging, due to the need to install new services without disturbing the listed exterior. The solid concrete design also suffers inherently from cold bridging, which will have to be remedied by internal wall insulation. Residents were to have the option to keep their flats in the block, or to move into new low-rise homes nearby, in which case the vacated flats would be sold to finance the works. Pending these works, some flats in Balfron and Carradale are temporarily occupied by artists, who contribute to the community and put on displays in "heritage flat" number 123 Balfron Tower. A major photographic project was undertaken in November 2010. External links *Wikipedia article *PRP Architects project page category:27 storey tower blocks category:Tower blocks in London category:Tower blocks built in the 1970s